Second bird was photographed early morning at Bonamanzi. In front of staff accomodation. This in an area I think they call Sand Forest. It was spotted at the birdbath and was quite at ease spending a lot of time before it flew off. NO White markings on the tail at all! My gut feel is that it is too big for little sparrowhawk, but too small for African Goshawk (SHIKRA????)

@stefans:Your second bird looks bang on the button for Little Sparrowhawk but it bothers me if you're saying that there were no white on the tail. I seem to be making out some white on the tail though. Are you sure there were no white or could you have missed it perhaps?

The yellow cere and yellow eye rings are classical features of Little Spar and Shikra would have had a red eye. Also, the rufous wash on the flanks is typical of Little Spar.

Remember that size can be very misleading if you don't have much to compare the bird against. A bird on the ground often looks a bit bigger than a bird in the tree.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel." -Homer Simpson

DeefstesThanks for feedback. I gave up on these two, but can add the following.

The sparrowhawk definitely did not show any white markings on the tail as it flew away (I was wishing for it to take flight so that I could look for these markings) However you are right -there was some white showing on the back/folded wings(?) as the bird sat on the ground.

Would you say that the red eye of Shikra is red like a Red-eye Dove's (Which unless you get the light right can appear pretty black!) or is it more pronounced. I do not know this bird at all.

You also make a very valid point that sizing a bird is not always as easy as one would expect

@stefans:Here is an annotated version of your image. I've pointed out where I think I can see white on the tail.

Either way, I would say the other features point so overwhelmingly to Little Sparrowhawk that I'm willing to ignore the apparent absence oif white on the tail

As for the red eye of Shikra, yes it can appear dark if the sun does not catch it but it's much redder than that of Red-eyed Dove for instance. When the sun catches it nicely it's actually a rather striking red. Shikra would never show that yellow ring around the eye though.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel." -Homer Simpson

There was an intresting discussion a page or two back about the differences between the little sparrowhawk and the shikra. I'd originally thought that this little raptor was a shikra, mainly because of the red eyes, but looking more closely, it looks like there is white on the tail, so now I'm not so sure Can anyone help me determine which is is?

Also, my Newmans describes the little sparrowhawk as secretive, yet this bird was sitting in a tree adjacent to my stoep at Mopani, on 15 October 2008 — which might also seem more indicative of the less secretive shikra?

Lizet Grobbelaar wrote:2nd Pic: I agree with Little Sparrow-Hawk. Difficult to tell size.. but the white blotches on the back and behind the head on the nape gives it away!

Hi Lizet ,

I think you might well be right about the second bird being a little sparrowhawk. However , I'm not sure that the "white blotches on the back and behind the nape" gives it away. I've seen these white blotches on some of the other smaller hawk-species , so I guess my question is: Are you sure that they rule out shikra as a possibillity?

Hi Jon, I agree, but the lack of supercilium and the ghost tail spots on this bird made me opt for LSH (sorry should have mentioned this too). In the case of juv. Shikra I would expect a whitish supercilium and although eye colour varies a lot I would still not expect it to be bright yellow in a juv. rather greyish to brown...

Lizet Grobbelaar wrote:Hi Jon, I agree, but the lack of supercilium and the ghost tail spots on this bird made me opt for LSH (sorry should have mentioned this too). In the case of juv. Shikra I would expect a whitish supercilium and although eye colour varies a lot I would still not expect it to be bright yellow in a juv. rather greyish to brown...

Hi Lizet ,

Much better! I sense that you're a bit hesitant to use eye colour for id'ing in this case , which I think is wise , since it varies a bit - young shikras can show a fairly bright yellow eye. The total absence of a white/pale supercilium on the other hand , is a really good character! It can be somewhat difficult to see on some shikras , but there is - in my experience - always a trace of it , giving this species a "meaner" facial expression than little sparrowhawk.